edX UX Pattern Library (UXPL)
The (working) UI library and Front End Styleguide for edX/Open edX applications and sites.
Table of Contents
- Overview
- License
- Dependencies
- Documentation
- Development - Documentation Site
- Development - UX Pattern Library Package
- Use and Deployment
- Contributions
Overview
This library contains the following:
License
The code in this repository is licensed the Apache 2.0 license unless otherwise
noted. Please see the LICENSE file for details.
Dependencies
Using the edX Pattern Library source code in a project current requires:
- Locally installing a package manager (either Node/npm or Bower).
- Use of modern web browsers - see Open edX/edX browser support
- The use and compilation of Sass into CSS using perferrably LibSass (if using the Sass method for including the pattern library).
Third Party Dependencies
Also, the Pattern Library currently relies on the following thrd party libraries:
Library | Version | Purpose |
---|
Bourbon | 4.2.6 | basic sass/CSS utilities |
bi-app-sass | latest | right-to-left/left-to-right directional support for layouts |
breakpoint-sass | 2.6.1 | CSS breakpoint/media-query management |
susy | 2.2.9 | Grid configuration and utilities |
A Font Garde | 0.1.6 | A set of reliable (nay, bulletproof) patterns for icon fonts. |
Documentation
The UX Pattern Library has its own living documentation site at
http://ux.edx.org. Additionally, we have many styleguides and how-to wiki
documents in the Github
repository.
Development - Documentation Site (PLDOC)
To work on the code of the documentation site portion of this repo, you'll need
recent versions of the following things installed on your local machine.
Library | Version | Purpose |
---|
Bundler | 1.10 | Used to install jekyll and its dependencies |
Node.js | 0.12.x or 4.0.x | Third-party dependency package management |
GulpJS + other gulp-based packages | 3.9.0 | Task runner for build process |
Step 1: Install Jekyll
The Pattern Library is managed through Jekyll, a static website generator, so you'll need to install that.
Mac Users
We use a Ruby gem called Bundler to install Jekyll, as that allows us to track the version of Jekyll running on github pages easily.
We assume you have ruby 2.0.0 or later installed. If you don't, an easy way to do that is to use RVM.
With that out of the way, next step is to install bundler, and then to use that to install Jekyll:
$ gem install bundler
$ bundle install
Windows users
Windows users have a bit more work to do, but luckily
@juthilo has provided some instructions with his
Run Jekyll on Windows guide.
You may also need to install Pygments, the Python syntax highlighter for code
snippets that plays nicely with Jekyll (which we use to highlight Front End
source code). Read more about this in the Jekyll
docs.
Step 2: Install Node.js and Node Package Manager (npm)
The npm command-line tool is bundled with Node.js. If you have it installed, then you already have npm too. If not, go download Node.js.
Step 3: Install Project Dependencies & Gulp Task Flow
From the directory you've checked out this repo into locally, run:
npm install
This runs through all dependencies listed in package.json and downloads them to
a node_modules
folder in your project directory.
NOTE: You may need to run this more than just once (if encountering errors
when running the gulp command) as new dependencies may have been added.
To run the version of gulp installed local to the project, in the root of your
this project, run:
./node_modules/.bin/gulp
Step 4: Run Locally (w/ Gulp Workflow)
To view the Pattern Library locally (and to watch for any local changes to
content/assets), run the default
gulp task with:
gulp
This will run the default
gulp task defined in gulpfile.js
, which includes the general local development set-up task (build-development
) and file/asset watching (watch
).
After running the default task, your local instance of the Pattern Library can
be viewable at http://localhost:3000. There are additional views:
http://localhost:3000/examples/**/*
- where full page examples and demos are kepthttp://localhost:3000/patterns/**/*
- permalinks for individually documented pattern library patterns
Committing Code to PLDOC
When developing changes or new work within the PLDOC, please make sure to:
- leave the Pattern Library Source Code (contained in
pattern-library
) unedited (or edit in a separate branch/commit) - run the production preparation-focused gulp task
gulp build-production
, which will optimize any checked in production assets (styles, images, and scripts), if you've added or heavily edited new PLDOC assets.
Development - UX Pattern Library Package
If you add or edit any patterns in this repo (found in _src/pattern-library/
) or change any package-centric settings (e.g. package.json
or bower.json
), please do the following:
- test that the change you've made will not negatively affect the node package manager (npm) or Bower packages other apps and codebases are relying on
- talk to the UX Team about any bumps (based on semantic versioning) in the npm or Bower packages' version number that are needed.
Use and Deployment
The UX Pattern Library is meant to be a starting UI Framework to support edX
and Open edX applications and sites. To start using the UX Pattern Library in an
edX/Open edX app, please follow these steps:
Step 0: Install Node
You'll need to download Node.js in order to use either of the UXPL packages.
Step 1: Install and Configure UXPL Packages
Next, you'll want to add the edx-pattern-library registered package as a dependency for your project and install it all at once. You have a few options for what package manager to do that through:
Using Node
In your project's main directory, you'll need to create a package.json
file that will manage locally installed npm packages. To create a package.json run:
$ npm init
You'll be walked through some basic settings for your project's package. See also npm's documentation on setting up a package.
Next, you'll want to add the edx-pattern-library
registered package as a dependency for your project and install it all at once.
$ npm install edx-pattern-library --save
See also, npm's documentation on installing/saving dependencies.
Using Bower
After instaling Node.js, you can install Bower, a package manager we use to download and maintain many of our vendor and external library refereces.
To install Bower globally:
npm install -g bower
Next, you'll want to add the edx-pattern-library
registered package as a
bower dependency and install it all at once.
bower install edx-pattern-library --save
NOTE: Bower recommends initializing your project as a bower project in order to manage third party dependencies such as the edx-pattern-library
bower package. Bower explains how to do that well with bower.json.
Step 2: Use the UX Pattern Library in your project's Styling
Use the pre-compiled UX Pattern Library CSS files (BETA)
You can use the edX UX Pattern Library as a static CSS base alongside other CSS files. To do so add a reference in the <head>
of your app's HTML
<link rel="stylesheet" href="[path to your package manager (npm or bower) or manually managed assets]/edx-pattern-library-ltr.min.css" />
NOTE: The node package manager (npm) package comes with several variations of compiled CSS, including:
- RTL and LTR support - noted by either a
*-ltr
or *-rtl
suffix. - Minified and expanded CSS output formats - for production and development/debugging purposes respectively.
NOTE: This way of using the edX UX Pattern Library is currently in beta is not as widely tested as the Sass method (described below). If you find bugs/issues, please log them.
Reference UX Pattern Library Partials in your Sass Compile
You can also use the edX UX Pattern Library as part of your CSS's Sass compilation (our preferred method). To do so,
just import all utilities (see the utilities
directory) and what components (see the components
directory) you want.
Default Reference/Import
All components and utilities can be imported by default by importing the _edx-pattern-library.scss
partial. See the expanded/simplified example below taken from main-ltr.scss
and the _build.scss
compilation of the edX Pattern Library's Documentation Site:
@import 'ltr';
@import 'config';
@import 'lib';
@import '../../../pattern-library/sass/edx-pattern-library';
@import 'utilities';
@import 'components';
@import 'layouts';
@import 'views';
@import 'overrides';
NOTE: Since both libSass and RubySass lack a way to pass in variables/configuration into their @import {file}
method, each app is responsible for 1) storing any npm-based dependencies, including the edx-pattern-library, in the best directory structure for that app's set up and 2) creating a _lib.scss
partial to import all third party library dependencies from that structure for the Pattern Library to use (see above example).
NOTE: We support right-to-left and left-to-right-based layouts. View more details on what configuration and utilities are needed alongside the UXPL
See the UX Pattern Library Files + Application Files guidelines and example style compile for more examples, details on how to use partials, and general background.
Custom Reference/Import
If you'd like to customize what to import, you can manually import specific elements from the edx-pattern-library package. Here's an example of customizing the default import demo above:
@import 'ltr';
@import 'config';
@import 'lib';
@import '{path to edx-pattern-library package}/pattern-library/sass/patterns/buttons';
@import '{path to edx-pattern-library package}/pattern-library/sass/patterns/headings';
@import '{path to edx-pattern-library package}/pattern-library/sass/patterns/copy';
@import '{path to edx-pattern-library package}/pattern-library/sass/patterns/grid';
@import '{path to edx-pattern-library package}/pattern-library/sass/patterns/layouts';
@import 'utilities';
@import 'components';
@import 'layouts';
@import 'views';
@import 'overrides';
Configure Settings
There are a few places you can start to explore configuring aspects of the UX
Pattern Library for your purposes. You can find many configurations and base
settings in src/sass/utilities/_variables.scss
and can override/customize
those in your application's utilities.scss
partial (they'll be used
throughout the rest of the compile).
NOTE: The code and design contained in the library has not been tested for use
alongside other UI Frameworks such as Bootstrap or Foundation.
NOTE: The source code of the Pattern Library does not include any local or
production-focused Sass/Front End tooling. It's expected that your app/site
has its own Sass compiler (preferrably LibSass).
Contributions
Contributions are very welcome. The easiest way is to fork this repo, and then
make a pull request from your fork. The first time you make a pull request, you
may be asked to sign a Contributor Agreement.
Please refer to our [contributor guidelines](https://github.com/edx/edx-
platform/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.rst) in the main edx-platform repo for
important additional information.
Contributing and the UX Pattern Library
There are a few additional details alongside our general guidelines to keep in mind contributing to the UX Pattern Library:
Pattern Library Features, Ideas, and Improvements
If you're looking to suggest an idea or you're thinking about developing a
feature, start a discussion by visiting the Open edX JIRA
site and create a new
"Issue" by selecting the "Create" button at the top of the page. Choose the
project "UX Pattern Library" and the issue type "New Feature" or "Improvement"
(you may first need to create a free JIRA
account).
Bugs and Issues
If you notice an issue or a bug with the Pattern Library, we would love ot hear
about it! Follow the above instructions on logging a new UX Pattern Library JIRA
issue and then assign the issue type of "Bug" to your issue. An edX UX Team
member will then take it from there and triage your bug.
Conversely, if you want to help resolve any known
bugs/issues, which are
tracked in JIRA, you can create a free JIRA
account and then comment on
the ticket to indicate that you are working on it. Don't hesitate to ask
clarifying questions on the ticket as needed, too, if anything is unclear.
Submitting Code
For code contributions, please open up a pull request! PRs will get OSPR tickets
assigned to them, as mentioned in the above contributing guidelines.
Approval by UX and Front End Team Members
An edX UX Team member will be working with you on any pull requests you make.
They will be evaulating your pull request from a design point of view as well as from
a Front End Development perspective. Other team members as well as UI/Front End
Developers may also lend a hand.
Tests
The Pattern library source code doesn't currently leverage the Open edX test
suite nor are there any automated tests configured for this codebase currently.
Front End Development Standards
In addition to the general contributor documentation, any contributions should
meet specific Front End Development requirements, including the guidelines and
principles listed in: